The present invention relates to the electronic packaging art and in particular to means for compressively restraining printed circuit boards while in operative condition yet permitting sliding assembly and disassembly without the need for attaching hardware. Prior art arrangements--see the J. Custer U.S. Pat No. 3,193,316--have included opposing parallel side members having opposing grooves or slots that function as a printed circuit board guide during insertion and removal of the printed circuit board into and from a printed circuit board electrical connector that is mounted in a base member orthogonally attached to the side members. Such grooves have, of necessity, loosely restrained the printed circuit board for ease of insertion and removal.
At the present time, because of the packaging of MSI, LSI, VLSI electronic components on printed circuit boards and their high power consumption per unit volume, there is a corresponding requirement for inproved heat dissipation within supporting electronic modules. In the C. Wenz U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,325 the electronic component supporting printed circuit boards are mounted between opposing parallel heat sinks by inserting the printed circuit board in a pair of supporting slots in the opposing parallel surfaces of the supporting heat sinks. The parallel, structurally supporting edges of the printed circuit board are placed in intimate contact with one side wall of each of the supporting slots for conducting the electronically generated heat away from the printed circuit board mounted electronic components and into the heat sink for dissipation therein. In the Wenz configuration, a plurality of spring members are affixed to the slot side wall, as by an adhesive. However, experience with such design has indicated that the use of such spring members and their method of affixation are economically unfeasible for high quantity production. A hardware mounted printed circuit board guide spring member, such as that of Series 165 Retainer, Calmark, Corp., 4947 Walnut Grove Avenue, San Gabriel, Calif., 91776, has been considered; however, the relatively high costs of assembly, in mounting hardware and labor, requires that a more simplified design be obtained. This same cost obstacle is applicable to the use of a wedge clamp--see the publication "Increasing the Power of Dissipation of PC Cards--a New Look at the Design Constraints," K. Garcia, Wescon Technical Papers, 1975, Pages 1-7.